


Lest We Forget

by AppleTeeth



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: M/M, flashbacks/PTSD, h/c, pre-relationships, those two would just be cute together okay?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-30
Updated: 2012-07-30
Packaged: 2017-11-11 01:38:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/473036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AppleTeeth/pseuds/AppleTeeth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce has a nightmare about when he used to be chased by the military. Steve is there to tell him he can relate.</p><p>Pre-slash because I don't know where this is going, but I love the idea of these two hooking up, one science experiment to another. ^^</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lest We Forget

He screams as he wakes up, his eyes aching as they widen in fear, his whole body shaking, his arms outstretched in case they go for him again. He can still hear the guns rattling, the helicopters above, the people around him screaming, Betty pleading with him to run for his life. Pain is erupting all over his body. He’s just so tired. He can’t run any more. He can only feel anger.  
  
“Bruce! Talk to me, buddy!”  
  
He feels a strong hand on his forearm and he shakes it off.  _He’s found me. They’ve caught me. They’re going to hurt me. They’re going to use me..._  
  
“Bruce, snap out of it! It’s over!”  
  
Slowly his vision is becoming clear, the frightening figures surrounding him melting away to be replaced with one concerned face. His arms lower as he makes out Steve crouching over him.  
  
“Are you okay?”  
  
“Nightmare,” Bruce gasps. He grabs his chest as he pants, feeling like his heart could explode. Steve just watches him, his hand on Bruce’s arm.

   


“You gave me quite a scare, Bruce. I thought someone was attacking you.”  
  
“They were,” he says without thinking. He catches Steve’s eye and wonders if he thinks he’s insane. If he thinks he can be in the same room as him when he’s freaked out so much. Maybe someone told Steve to keep a watch on him, in case the Other Guy makes an appearance?  
  
Steve helps Bruce to his feet and takes him back over to his bed. Bruces realises that he must have jumped out of bed and hid in the corner of the room at some point mid-nightmare, probably doing what he always tried to do when thinking someone was after him - escaping.  
  
Steve doesn’t say a word until Bruce has caught his breath and looks fully coherent again. Then he takes a seat beside him and puts his arm around his friend’s shoulders.  
  
“It’s okay. I get flashbacks a lot too.”  
  
That isn’t what Bruce is expecting to hear at all. He tries to think of something to say, but words fail him. He can’t say anything when he is being understood, not judged.   
  
Steve is looking down at the ground, but his free hand is up, describing with movement what he’s trying to say.  
  
“Mostly explosions. Some faces. The sound of guns. That distinct rat-a-tat, you know?”  
  
Bruce nods. He does know.  
  
“I mean, yes, I signed up for it. I wanted to go into battle. But they never tell you what it’s like. And you can never explain it fully to anyone else. The people who drop like flies. The smell of death in the air. When good friends die... And it just sits with you, forever.” Steve laughs quietly. “I know, people say, ‘It’s over now, you’re not in battle any more,’ but they just don’t get it. Everything makes me think of it. It never leaves. And every now and then we’ve got to go back into the field and it shouldn’t but it terrifies me.”  
  
Steve suddenly looks at Bruce, like he’s said a curse word in front of a priest.  
  
“Sorry. I mean, you didn’t choose this. I’m not helping, am I?”  
  
For a moment, Bruce can see the weedy, shy kid Steve used to be. Before the super-serum, maybe even long before then. The sort of kid who apologises before he has done anything wrong. Bruce feels closer to him in this moment than ever before.  
  
“No, you are. I get what you’re saying. I keep thinking I’ll forget about it, now that... now that I’m a hero, sort of.”  
  
Steve laughs heartily and Bruce smiles gratefully for it.  
  
“But I still see them. The guns aiming at me, people running away from me in terror, everyone screaming at me to stay still and...” He feels a shudder rise up his spine. His mouth feels dry and he doesn’t want to go on.  
  
Steve doesn’t say a word, almost like he’s imagining the scene with Bruce. Like he’s piecing together what his colleague is describing and remembering his own hell. Bruce feels his grip tighten around him, pulling him close to his side.  
  
“I remember they had us cornered once We had walked right into sniper fire and I couldn’t believe how quickly people began to fall around us. I just froze in terror. It was the longest three seconds of my life.”  
  
“And then you ran and it’s now all a blur?”  
  
He nods.   
  
Bruce looks at Steve, Captain America, the leader of their team, look scared and lonely, like a kid who has been told to face up to his bullies. Bruce takes Steve’s hand and squeezes it gently.  
  
“You did what you could. Nobody can blame you for that.”  
  
“And it’s never enough,” Steve replies bitterly. He smiles apologetically at Bruce. “Sorry, I know. I bet it’s the same with you, or hell, worse? Because no matter what you do, how you go out and save all those people who need medical attention, how the Hulk saves the day all the time, you still get called a monster?”  
  
“Yeah,” Bruce says softly. He shrugs, “But I suppose I deserve it.”  
  
“No more than I do,” Steve says firmly. He squeezes Bruce’s hand. “And don’t you dare forget it.”  
  
“Thank you,” he says. And he means it. “Uh, so why weren’t you sleeping? Or did I wake you?”  
  
He shakes his head. “I guess I just sleep when I need to. Sometimes I sleep the whole night, sometimes it’s light, and then there’s nights like tonight where I just want to check on my friends.”  
  
Bruce smiles. “Wanna watch old movies with me?”  
  
“Old as in old or old as in new for me?”  
  
He shrugs and pulls Steve up as he stands. “I like  _A Philadelphia Story_ . Did you ever see that?”  
  
“Of course. That sounds great.”


End file.
